Medical ultrasound imaging systems have evolved into complex instruments offering a wide variety of imaging modalities including two dimensional imaging mode (2D) which may have a sector or linear format, M Mode (MM), Color Flow (COLOR), and Doppler (DOPPLER) imaging. Each modality requires a set of user controls unique to that modality. Not only is each mode operational independent of the other modes, but they may also be combined into a variety of composite modes. These composite modes include 2D/MM, 2D/COLOR, 2D/COLOR/MM, 2D/DOPPLER and 2D/COLOR/DOPPLER. The complexity of the user controls required to operate the system in a composite mode is increased substantially since the user controls for each mode making up the composite mode must be readily available to the user. The situation is further complicated since some controls must be dedicated to system functions which are independent of the selected modality, e.g., VCR and hard copy controls.
Medical ultrasound imaging systems are typically used to image patients in real time. Thus, the user must be able to operate the system controls efficiently. As the complexity and functionality of the ultrasound system increases, traditional hard-wired controls dedicated to each function produce more crowded control panels which are more difficult for the user to operate in real time. A control panel for an ultrasound system having a dedicated control for each available function would require over 100 controls.
Ultrasound system control panels have been developed which minimize the control set available to the user at any one time, dependent on the selected ultrasound mode, to reduce control complexity. One such minimum control set approach uses programmable "soft keys" whose functions change dependent upon the selected mode. A new function may be assigned to each soft key as the mode change and displayed on a display device.
Hierarchical menus, such as "pull-down" menus, have also been used to minimize the control set available to the user. Each menu is displayed on a display device and typically offers a list of available menu items related to a particular mode or function from which the user selects one item. This selection either produces the desired function or causes another lower level menu to be displayed which offers more menu items related to the first selected item. The selection process is repeated until the desired ultrasound system function is selected. The user may need to go through several menu layers to reach the desired function. From there the user may need to back track through several menu layers to reach another desired function.